In a move to help the homeless, Visalia City Council approved money to kick start a work program seeking to provide employment for those on the street.

In an unanimous vote, Visalia council appropriated $354,000 from Solid Waste for the program. However, Visalia will receive $209,000 from the Workforce Investment Board of Tulare County and $50,000 from the Bottle Bill designated for Consolidated Waste Management Authority.

As explained by Gubler, the program will start with 10 employees, who will be assigned to pick up trash and remove graffiti. The employees, divided in two five-member crews, will work together for up to three months, when new members will be brought in.

The initial group, if they did a good job, may move onto other jobs, Gubler said.

“We will hire people willing to work,” he said. “We want to rebuild their self-esteem and provide income for their housing.”

The program is similar to one being used in Bakersfield. Gubler said Bakersfield is having “great success.”

“This is Visalia’s attempt to address homelessness around the community,” he said. “When dealing with homelessness, there are a lot of issues. This is a program we are using to assist them.”

During a planning workshop, Visalia council identified reducing homelessness as a goal for the coming years. In addition, Tulare County supervisors approved establishing a task force to address homelessness.

Joshua Bennett has been living on the streets for more than 16 years. After his father died when he was just 16, Bennett was left homeless.

When he heard about the workforce program he was concerned about one thing: not having sufficient education. He’s attended trade school and has his high school diploma, but was worried he wouldn’t qualify for a job.

“My passion is computers,” he said. “I’d love to have a job.”

He has been living in Visalia for several months. Before coming to Visalia, Bennett lived in Kern County and San Bernardino.

“I like Visalia a bit better,” he said. “It’s smaller but it’s clean, a lot cleaner than Bakersfield.”

After hearing about the city’s workforce program, Bennett made plans to contact Visalia Rescue Mission.

Ryan Stillwater, the mission’s director of development, said the issue was brought before council and he has been working with the city to get a work program started.

“We are very excited the city is doing what it can to help individuals who need that support,” he said.

Ultimately, the hope for staff at VRM is a county-wide workforce program for homeless community members.

“We are very intentional about being part of that conversation,” Stillwater said. “We are a part of that puzzle.”

Project Homeless estimates that in 2017 there were 278 homeless living in the city. Of those 63 were considered “at risk”. In 2016, there were 227 homeless, 134 were considered at risk.